FB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[wally_wabash]

A little tale of the tape:


I think Wabash's recipe for victory here include most, if not all, of the following things:
- Wabash converts > 45% of their 3rd downs.  Wabash has to keep the ball and has to keep the field tilted in their favor.  In 2013, Wabash had trouble with first downs early, had terrible field position through the entire first half and never recovered. 
- Wabash doesn't go more than minus-2 on turnovers.  Part of keeping the ball away from Witt's offense...but also Witt has thrived on taking the ball away and scoring off of turnovers.  Have to make them earn it the old fashioned way on Saturday. 
- Hold Witt to < 35% 3rd down conversions.
- Wes Murphy makes an important play downfield, preferably early.  No doubt Wittenberg will sell out to stop Ike James and put the game on Murphy.  If he can make a play or two downfield and force Witt to respect the intermediate and deep parts of the field, James might find some running room.  But they won't respect the pass game early (why would they?) and they won't get out of the box until Wabash beats them downfield. 
- Wabash doesn't allow more than one TD outside of the red zone.  I think Wabash can survive a long TD.  I don't think they can survive two or three of them.  And the home run swings are coming.  I'm certain that Reed Florence has about a dozen plays ready to dial up from his own half of the field that he believes will score so long as Kennedy can make the long throw.  And he's probably right if Wabash is content to sit back and wait for those plays to happen.  Have to avoid the home runs on Saturday. 

I believe all of these things can happen and I believe Wabash can grind out a win here.  The ability is there.  But they will have to outperform their season norms in some critical areas or they'll be at risk at having Witt run wild  all over the Hollett.  It's a rivalry game.  For Wittenberg, it's a conference championship game.  Wabash will need to match that energy level immediately- if it takes Wabash 15 minutes to realize they're in a big time game against a big time team, it's probably too late. 

I hope Wabash has had a great week of practice.   I hope players have been focused on this game and avoided the bookings this week.  I hope these guys are ready to close out the home season with a giant win. 

WAF. 

[wabashcpa]

Wabash with a nice response to Witt scoring drive, Murphy with some nice passes to spread out the D.

Witt 7
Wab 7

Early 2Q

[DadofBashWarrior..]

40 seconds left before half with two timeouts...great field position...clock management...yikes...no effort...no plan...hard to watch...

But we are still in it...

WABASH ALWAYS FIGHTS

[Li'l Giant]

40 seconds left before half with two timeouts...great field position...clock management...yikes...no effort...no plan...hard to watch..

That sequence was bad.

[wabashcpa]

4th & 1 play with 5:15 left was pretty brutal too.  Game effort so far by the LG's, need to dig deep right now.

Witt 21, Wabash 14

[cave2bens]

    ...    ...   

[sigma one]

I was unable to watch.  Tell me something, please.

[Wabash1]

Love the comments coach made after the game. We had to play a perfect game because we are not that good and the refs made a terrible call in first half. How do you not get the ball in Ike James hands with a pass in the last series of plays. Is what it is and I don't see anything changing for the better for a long time. Wabash men played hard.

[Li'l Giant]

I was unable to watch.  Tell me something, please.

The defense did a really good job keeping Wabash in the game. Unfortunately Witt's defense was able to stop our running game and with the exception of one scoring drive in the first half, our passing game wasn't good enough to get us on the board. 21-14 the final.

Honestly, the best play of the day was the fake punt. It's amazing that Penola seems to have big plays every time he touches the ball and yet he rarely gets the ball. I mean, it took a fake punt for chrissakes.

The two long FG attempts because they didn't trust the offense to convert on 4th down seemed...I don't know...like quitting? Is that too harsh?

But then you get a fake punt call, and all the wildcat stuff with Avant at QB. I just don't understand that. You have an RB handing off to an RB. It's not a surprise there's a fumble.

This Wabash defense is good. Like I said, they're the reason this game was close. I hope the defense keeps it up, especially in two weeks. But if dpu can stop Wabash's running game, the defense better pitch a shutout because the offense won't score reliably.

[Li'l Giant]

Love the comments coach made after the game. We had to play a perfect game because we are not that good

I get tired of hearing that. It seems like that's in every set of postgame comments or preview.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Owu 34 Oberlin 26.

[sigma one]

l just looked at the box score.  Most of what I need to know:  1 of 14 on 3rd down, 7%. 

[emma17]

Tough loss for Wabash. I only caught the end where Wabash was fourth and less than one yard, and opted for a wildcat w read option for a fumble. Does Wabash have a power runner? Strange to mess around in backfield.

Equally odd was the subsequent Witt decision on third down, where the QB did not attempt to get the first down- giving the appearance their plan from the timeout was to kick a field goal, which succeeded only in giving Wabash the ball back.

Coaching these days seems way overcomplicated.

[ohiofan1954]

Just returned from watching the Wooster - Kenyon game. Wooster has a fine running back and a great receiver but that pass defense isn't going to stop a good passing attack. Wittenberg will win easily but the Scots will score some points.

[Bishopleftiesdad]

Witt week and the battle for ye old skull. Will this be the year it comes back to Delaware?